First things first: Congratulations, Auston Matthews!

We all knew this accomplishment was inevitable several years ago, and it became clear it would happen well before Matthews’ 30th birthday. That’s not to downplay the significance or enjoyment of the official achievement tonight; it just speaks to the homegrown, generational talent the Leafs have had in their midst since his history-making NHL debut, making this a foregone conclusion for a very long time. It only became a question of how quickly Matthews would do it, especially once he had two 60+ goal years in a three-season span.

Turns out, he broke 420 in 664 games. It’s obscene. The only question now is by how much he raises the bar for the franchise, and how high he climbs in the NHL record books. Matthews broke 400 goals six games faster than Alex Ovechkin did.

What’s nice about the way Matthews clinched the franchise record tonight is that it comes at a time when the team and Matthews himself have flipped a switch of sorts in their quality of play. If Matthews had accomplished this a few weeks from now with the team still in the dumps and Matthews under-performing overall, it wouldn’t have made the accomplishment any less impressive, but it would’ve made the fan base’s enjoyment of the accomplishment a little more subdued, most likely. Instead, it comes at a time when Matthews followed up a hat-trick performance against Winnipeg with a two-goal game against the Isles, and both goals tonight were beautifully taken.

To be a little greedy, the only way this would’ve been a more perfect night to celebrate Matthews’ achievement is if the puck had gone over the goal line for him in OT, clinching another game-winner and back-to-back hat tricks, instead of rolling across the goal line after hitting the post.

Which brings us to the game itself.

The first period was cagey and low-event — a big drop-off in entertainment value after the conclusion of the Leafs-Jets game — but it was not without a couple of chances. Toronto’s best one was probably John Tavares’ power-play look — one he likely buries during his hot streak to start the season — which was a missed opportunity to stick one to the Islander crowd early and give the Leafs a 1-0 lead.

Instead, early in the second period, Tavares was uncharacteristically cleaned out on a defensive-zone draw by a winger — Jonathan Drouin, after JG Pageau was tossed out — leading to a 1-0 lead for the Islanders. It was a well-placed shot from distance by Adam Pelech, but it was one Woll would definitely want to track/read better, as he got caught peeking on the wrong side of the traffic pile and never saw it.

This was a fairly evenly-contested game through 40 minutes, with the Leafs holding an edge in quality scoring chances. Somehow, none of Nick Robertson, Scott Laughton, or Matias Maccelli scored on great looks right before Matthews’ second goal of the second period gave the Leafs a 2-1 lead entering the third. The game was in a good spot through 40 minutes from the Toronto perspective.

However, tonight’s third period on the road was quite similar to the one in Detroit that also cost the Leafs a point last week. The final frame was passive enough from the Leafs that they easily could’ve lost the game in regulation. They more or less stopped manufacturing any real push or sustaining any puck possession, and they needed to be really opportunistic to avoid the regulation loss. Robertson scored on one of three third-period shots by the Leafs, set up by nice work from Easton Cowan and Nic Roy down low off the forecheck.

Not helping the Leafs’ third-period cause was the loss of Jake McCabe to injury. With Matt Benning playing only 12 minutes and change (which wasn’t deserved—he was solid), the coaching staff leaned really hard on OEL, Troy Stecher, and a struggling Morgan Rielly, who played a team-leading 27:31. It did not end well. Rielly was torched by Matt Schaefer for the 2-2 goal, and then Woll was beaten on a very stoppable, unscreened one-timer along the ice to make it 3-3 shortly after Robertson’s go-ahead goal.

I don’t like over-analyzing three-on-three play — it’s a fun-but-dumb game state, and it doesn’t exist in the playoffs for a reason — but too many frustrating events transpired not to talk about the game-losing OT sequence, after Matthews nearly ended it at the other end.

Bobby McMann, Max Domi, and Rielly were completely gassed after a long shift, including a lengthy spell in their own zone. Woll caught a shot from Tony DeAngelo and played the puck when the team clearly needed a faceoff/reset. Tired legs and brains partly explain the subsequent events.

From there, Domi should’ve protected the puck, turned back with it, or done anything but what he did. He should’ve bought a little time so he could hand off the puck and change. Instead, he tried to find a second wind and force it down the ice when he had nothing in the tank, leading to the turnover.

Rielly then capped his minus-four night (in a 4-3 loss) with a strange play in a 2v1 situation that became a 2v2 thanks to Matthew Knies’ hustle off the bench to chase down Barzal and force him wide. It wasn’t clear what Rielly’s intentions were (blocking a potential Barzal shot from outside the faceoff dot with an outstretched stick from 10 feet away?). It was ultimately a great play by Barzal, but Rielly took himself out of it and couldn’t touch Schaefer when he took a pass in the middle of the slot to end the game.

The Leafs have now collected just four of a possible 11 extra-time points this season, and they’ve won just 10 of 16 games when leading after two periods (three regulation losses and three OT losses). You don’t require any reminders from me about how important those points are on the margins, given the current standings picture in the East.

Post-Game Notes

– The Leafs were the more dangerous team for much of the opening 40 minutes. In addition to improved breakouts, they’re doing a good job of getting pucks off the walls into productive areas of the ice for quality scoring chances in the offensive zone, thanks to better puck support and connectedness overall. This game featured 55 minutes of five-on-five play (just one power play each), a couple of seconds fewer than last week’s game in Detroit for the most time played at full strength this season. The Leafs were up 6-3 in high-danger chances and 16-11 in shots at five-on-five. But their approach to the third period was all wrong, and it cost them an important point.

See any similarities here?:

– Troy Stecher spoke about the challenge of defending McDavid before the Leafs’ recent loss to Edmonton: “You need your forwards to get in [McDavid’s] way a little bit, so it is easier for you as a defenseman. If you are not able to do that, then you want to have a tight gap so he doesn’t have space to build his speed. It is all situational; if he does have speed, sometimes you actually want a bigger gap so that he is not going to embarrass you. It kind of depends on where he is on the ice, where the puck is, and where your support is. You just kind of read and react.”

This quote came to mind while watching Morgan Rielly on the 2-2 Schaefer goal. You generally want tight gaps from the D against oncoming rushers, of course, but as Stecher said, it can be situational. With Schaefer having a full head of steam and Domi right there as support (Schaefer couldn’t easily cut into space above/inside Rielly, if his gap was softer), Rielly was better off giving himself a little more cushion in that situation, so he wasn’t torched wide cleanly by an elite skater. But everything did happen really quickly as Rielly scrambled onto the ice from the bench following the McCabe injury.

– The 3-3 goal was eminently stoppable for Woll, and there were opportunities to get a stick in the seam for Matthews and Domi. However, Rielly also put Benoit in a tough spot of needing to scramble across the zone toward the goal-scorer, Emil Heineman. Rielly followed Anders Lee across the crease and pushed him into Benoit, who tried to adjust to cover the other side of the ice but couldn’t possibly get there in time.

– Indeed, Jake McCabe‘s absence was sorely felt late on (McCabe made a nice play in the neutral zone before Matthews’ 1-1 goal in the second period, too). Combine it with Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo‘s absences, and it doesn’t leave the Leafs with many ideal late-game shutdown options back there. They kept leaning on Rielly, who played nine minutes in the third and was totally lost tonight. McCabe and OEL have been the linchpins on defense amid all the injuries around them (and under-performance in Rielly’s case). The injury prognosis for McCabe will be massive news, one way or another.

– The coaching staff needs to take a hard look at some of the ice time decisions in OT. Rielly leads the team in three-on-three ice time and is down 1-4 in OT goals with the shots at 14-4 in favour of the opposition in those minutes. Oliver Ekman-Larsson has played just 8:15 at three-on-three (Rielly is at 15:13), but he is up 3-0 in goals. The gap between those two should not be that wide. Up front, Max Domi (0-2 in three-on-three goals) should not be fourth behind Matthews, Nylander, and Tavares in OT ice-time among forwards (he’s a few seconds ahead of Knies). Domi shouldn’t be miles ahead of Robertson, McMann, Maccelli, and Laughton.

– Looking at the third-period ice time, similar to the OT loss in Detroit, there were some strange numbers down the stretch of this game. Nic Roy played just 3:15 in the third (and only 11:42 overall), and he still picked up a critical primary assist in that time. His line was up 11-4 in shot attempts in this game, 6-3 in shots, and 1-0 in goals. He’s playing some really good hockey right now — winning battles, heavy on pucks, and making plays (four points in his last five games). He played just one shift after setting up the Robertson goal.

– Matt Benning is a clear improvement on Philippe Myers already (low bar alert!). It’s not that his tools are better than Myers’, but the toolbox is superior. He’s a savvier veteran who can be simple but competent in bottom-pairing minutes. His shot block midway through the third period was an important one in a promising scoring situation for the Isles. You don’t want to overload him right off the bat, but he also deserved a little more rope than 12 minutes and change.

– Bobby McMann has largely been viewed as a winger who can fly up and down the wing and bring a good shot/finishing ability to the table, but he is also making some plays of note right now. He made heads-up passes for Matthews’ second goal — right in the wheelhouse — and for Matthews’ near-goal in OT tonight, as well as the Stecher goal against Winnipeg, while collecting three primary assists in the last three games. We know about the speed and finish he can bring to a line, but when playing with Matthews, it’s critical that he keep up from a play-making perspective, and these are promising signs. We’ll see if he can keep it up over time.

– The Matias Maccelli – John Tavares – Matthew Knies line recorded just one shot on goal in this game in over 11.5 five-on-five minutes. The shots were 4-1 for the Islanders in those minutes (plus the one goal for NYI off the defensive-zone faceoff loss). Once they’re set up with the puck in the zone, they’re pretty heavy on it and skilled with it, but the collective footspeed is not particularly high in terms of their ability to transition the puck, get up and down the ice quickly, and arrive on time on the forecheck. This configuration may make the most sense once William Nylander is ready to return:

McMann – Matthews – Domi
Maccelli – Tavares – Nylander
Knies – Roy – Robertson
Lorentz – Laughton – Cowan/Jarnkrok

Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Game Highlights w/Joe Bowen: Islanders 4 vs. Maple Leafs 3 (OT)

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